Bobbi Kristina Brown died from a combination of alcohol, drugs and drowning - but it's still unclear whether her death was murder, suicide or an accident. The Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office in Atlanta released a statement Friday morning - on what would have been Bobbi Kristina's 23rd birthday - about her death as it prepares to release the full autopsy report.
According to the statement, Bobbi Kristina died of lobar pneumonia, which was caused by the combination of drugs found in her system, drowning and hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy - a neurological condition resulting from a lack of oxygen to the brain.
The 22-year-old only daughter of singers Bobby Brown and the late Whitney Houston was found face-down and unresponsive in a bathtub in her suburban Atlanta town house on January 31, 2015, and died in hospice care on July 26 after spending months in a coma.
Her death was eerily similar to her mother, who drowned in a hotel bathtub after taking cocaine in February 2012. The two are now buried next to each other in the same New Jersey cemetery. The office says it reviewed medical records, investigative files and other documents to determine how Bobbi Kristina likely died.
The medical examiner's office says marijuana and alcohol were involved in the death, along with medications used for sedation or to treat anxiety. Read full statement below...
FULL STATEMENT FROM THE FULTON COUNTY MEDICAL EXAMINER'S OFFICE
Update on the Death of Bobbi Kristina Brown
The cause of Bobbi Kristina Brown’s death as determined by the Fulton County Medical Examiner is:
Lobar pneumonia
Due to: Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, delayed effects
Due to: Immersion of face in water complicating mixed drug intoxication
The underlying cause of death is the condition which starts the downhill course of events leading to death and in this case is the immersion associated with drug intoxication. The pneumonia and encephalopathy are more immediate causes which resulted from the immersion and drug intoxication.
The autopsy alone could not reveal the underlying cause of death because of the long interval between Ms. Brown being found unresponsive in the bathtub and her eventual death. Thus, the underlying cause of death is based substantially on review of medical records, the results of toxicology tests, investigative records, and the fact that the autopsy did not show any other likely underlying cause of death or reason for Ms. Brown becoming unresponsive.
The drugs involved included marijuana, alcohol (ethanol), benzoylecgonine (a cocaine-related substance), benzodiazepines (medications used for sedation or to treat anxiety), and morphine. It could not be determined from toxicology tests whether the morphine resulted from heroin use.
The other question which arises is manner of death. In other words, did death result from natural causes such as disease, an intentional act such as suicide or homicide, an unintentional cause (accident), or in an undetermined manner when a more specific manner of death cannot be established. Death was clearly not due to natural causes, but the medical examiner has not been able to determine whether death was due to intentional or accidental causes, and has therefore classified the manner of death as Undetermined .
The Roswell Police Department and the Fulton County District Attorney have been provided with the Medical Examiner’s findings. No further information will be available from the Medical Examiner’s Office at this time.
Fulton County Medical Examiner
Posted March 4, 2016
0 comments: